Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

382— Wiyn Open Cluster Study: Ubvri Photometry Of Ngc 2204, Kylie Snyder, Dante Scarazzini

GREAT Day Posters

The purpose of this project was to study the open star cluster NGC2204 using images taken at Kitt Peak National Observatory using the WIYN 0.9m telescope. These images were analyzed photometrically with the intention of determining the reddening, metallicity, age, and distance modulus of the star cluster. Each image was analyzed using software that determined the point spread function and applied that function to determine the magnitude of each star in that image. These magnitudes were taken for each filter, UBVRI, and then combined and averaged to create a single catalog. Standard stars, taken on the same night, were used …

075— A Test Of The Efficacy Of The Augmented Reality Sandbox To Improve Students' Reading Topographic Map Skills, Megan Jankowiak, Alexandra Ranaudo

GREAT Day Posters

The augmented reality (AR) sandbox is a teaching tool used to connect two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) map representations through modeling. Our hypothesis is: the AR sandbox is effective at teaching topographic map reading skills by comparing pre vs. post test scores. Student data was processed to analyze the efficiency of using the AR sandbox to increase student ability to read topographic maps. Data consists of student answers on a topographic map reading skills test at the beginning and the end of a Historical Geology college course. Between tests, students used the AR sandbox to complete short exercises during multiple …

201— Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion Within The Department Of Geological Sciences At Suny Geneseo, Maria Leonard

GREAT Day Posters

The field of Geosciences historically has lacked diversity. This lack of diversity is observed at all levels of higher education—for example, 90% of doctoral degrees are awarded to white people (Wilson, 2016) and only 3.8% of tenured or tenure track positions at the top 100 geoscience departments are held by faculty of color (Bernard & Cooperdock 2018). There are multiple reasons at the heart of this issue including the lack of representation which can fuel stereotype threats and imposter syndromes.

This project aimed to take actions that would help grow the diversity, equity, and accessibility within Geneseo’s GSCI department. This …

205— Revisiting The Geologic History Of The Pathfinder Landing Site At Ares Vallis, Mars, Andrew Agent

GREAT Day Posters

Before NASA sent the Pathfinder lander and Sojourner rover to the mouth of Ares Vallis in 1997, they anticipated the discovery of Hesperian-age (3.6 Ga-3.0 Ga) sediments deposited from catastrophic outflows. When pictures came back, the rocks they discovered were large, boulder-size, angular, and were largely inconsistent with transport by large floods. The origin of the deposits at the Pathfinder landing site remains controversial. This study aims to constrain the surface geology of the Pathfinder landing site using new high-resolution imagery and crater statistics. Context Camera (CTX) images along with High-Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) images were used to map surface …

299— Determining Accuracy Of Xrd From Known Samples, Collin Horrocks

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Powdered x-ray diffraction (XRD) is a technique that has the power to identify minerals and the proportion of the minerals in a mixture. A mineral is defined by a repeatable set of planes between atoms that form the crystal lattice. It is this repetition that allows the process of XRD to work. The process is done by taking a powdered sample and placing it into the machine and then shooting x-rays into the sample causing diffraction. From this using Bragg’s Law we can determine the d-spacing which is how an identity is determined for a sample and the intensity of …

041— Fiber Decomposition And Pretreatment Analysis Of Cannabis Sativa L.: Hemp, Dina Bu, Jessica Roggie, Sarah Schmidlin, Barnabas Gikonyo

GREAT Day Posters

Hemp is a subspecies of Cannabis sativa L. along with marijuana, yet the two differ in chemical constituent levels of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). Hemp contains 0.3% THC, compared to marijuana 17.1%, allowing it to be a safe and compelling biomass for investigation. The refined products of hemp are vast due to its fast-growing properties; therefore various commercial industries have included refined hemp in biofuels, biodegradable plastics, textiles, dietary supplements, paper, clothing, and much more. Construction and manufacturing applications have also been seen to include hemp to strengthen their composite products. The high-yielding, sustainable, and environmentally friendly qualities …

069— Geomorphic Characteristics Of Canadice Lake, Ny, Watersheds And The Anthropogenic Effects On Watershed Output And Sensitivity, Carla Crampton

GREAT Day Posters

Land use and size of watershed catchment areas affects the overall health and water quality of Canadice Lake. Methods in ArcGIS Pro were used for high resolution imagery and topography data to analyze the geomorphology of watersheds at Canadice Lake. Watersheds were mapped using ArcGIS Hydrology tools by constructing flow direction and accumulation grids. In each individual watershed, total area of the watershed, area of residential and agricultural land use, and total length of roads was determined to evaluate which watersheds are most sensitive to human impact and which watersheds are likely to contribute the highest flow discharge and sediment …

328— Watershed Analysis Of The Eberswalde Delta (Early Hesperian), Mars, Jason Mueller

GREAT Day Posters

The Eberswalde Delta is an impressive Martian fluvial-deltaic system. It is fed by an Earth-like dendritic river system that indicates past precipitation. This study is designed to quantify controls on network morphometry and its past extent using Esri ArcMap. Upstream contributing area (km2), elevation (m), depth (m), width (m), W/D ratio, and slope (-m/m), were calculated and graphed by stream order and long profiles. Width/depth increased with distance downstream but fluctuated in the fifth-order channel that was convex with knickpoints. This implied the system was youthful. The fourth-order stream was concave and in a sedimentary sub-basin. This sub-basin may have …

369— Comparison Of Wilkins Creek And Spring Creek Stream Chemistries, Victoria Taylor, Brooke Stickles

GREAT Day Posters

A stream's chemistry and health can be affected by seasonal fluctuations, environment and land usage. Wilkins Creek and Spring Creek are tributaries of Conesus Lake located in Livonia, New York. The two streams flow through varying terrain. Wilkins Creek flows predominantly through wetlands, residential and agricultural land. Spring Creek runs through the village of Livonia. The different environments may result in altered stream chemistries. An analysis of water chemistry was taken at different points in Wilkins Creek and Spring Creek before they converged. Alkalinity, chloride, oxygen, pH, conductivity, and water temperature were measured at each location. Samples were collected and …

356— Conodonts, Microtektites, And Thermal Alteration, Of The Jefferson Formation, Upper Devonian, Wyoming, Joshua Yanuck, Ryan Lee

GREAT Day Posters

The Jefferson Formation, composed of two members, a limestone and dolomite dominated layer called the lower member, and the dolomite-dominated Birdbear Member, is distributed throughout southern Montana and northern Wyoming. Samples were taken from multiple levels within the Birdbear Member, dissolved in buffered 10% formic acid, and the insoluble residue separated using heavy liquid. The heavy fraction was searched for conodonts and microtektites. Conodonts indicate the Middle Frasnian stage of the Upper Devonian and thermal heating of less than 80 degrees Celsius. Microtektites, speculated to occur in the interval corresponding to the Alamo Impact in Nevada, were not found.

312— Mineralogical Analysis Of Slag From Iron Production In The Adirondack State Park, Mary Reid, Griffin Rose

GREAT Day Posters

Slag is a byproduct of iron production formed from the melting of iron-bearing rocks. Iron production in the Adirondacks reached a high in the early to mid 1800s, with many blast furnaces in operation throughout Northern New York. Two sets of samples from different regions in the Adirondacks were collected in the summers of 2019-2020. An unknown sample was taken from the Ausable River at Flume Falls near Wilmington, New York, while other samples were collected from the Mt. Hope iron furnace near Fort Ann, New York. Samples were analyzed through the creation of thin sections and x-ray diffraction. Results …

029— Calculating Gravitational Waves In A Black Hole Binary System, Nami Nishimura

GREAT Day Posters

Our ultimate goal is to compute the gravitational waves in an extreme mass-ratio binary system. Since gravitational perturbations are difficult to calculate, we model the compact object as a point carrying a scalar charge q and moving around a spinning black holes.

In this project, we take advantage of symmetry under rotation around the spin axis in order to separate φ variables and leverage the periodicity of the source to separate t variable with a Fourier series. The remaining differential equations will be solved numerically with an appropriate discretization considering a grid of points in r-θ plane

200— Chemical Analysis Of Slag From Standish, Ny, Maria Leonard, Dori Farthing

GREAT Day Posters

From 1883 to 1907, magnetite was smelted in Standish, NY. During this time, a large amount of slag, a byproduct of smelting, was created. The slag is now in a pile that covers ~13 acres in the northeastern region of the Adirondacks. The slag at the site has been classified into 6 broad types based on their physical properties. Exemplars of select types were crushed and analyzed by X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF). Both major elements and trace element data was collected for these samples. The XRF results indicate that all Standish slag is dominated by SiO2, CaO, and Fe2O3(t) regardless …

344— Wetland Soil, Abigale O'Connor

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This project classified soil properties in the vicinity of a wetland in Livonia, NY. Soil cores were collected from the margin of the wetland to observe the changes in the soil profiles across the transition between the wetland and the surrounding forested land. Soil horizons were delineated based on texture and color. Individual horizons were then correlated between the cores to capture spatial changes in thickness and texture. The core descriptions and the correlations were digitized to create an archive of correlations around the wetland for future reference. The distribution of wetland soil textures contributes to better understanding how water …

062— Nano-Size Dependence In Aggregation Process Of Beta 2 Microglobulin Coated Gold Colloids, Kaylee A. Hausrath

GREAT Day Posters

The formation of the aggregates of the beta 2 microglobulin (b2m) coated nano-gold colloids were investigated for various nanogold colloid sizes ranging between 10 nm and 100 nm. The aggregation process was considered to be initiated by the selfassembly of b2m by transforming the folded to the unfolded structure under highly acidic condition (pH < 4). The formation of the aggregates were monitored by a peak shift of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) band as a function of number of free b2m available. As for relatively smaller size of gold colloid diameter a gradual aggregation process was observed. The size of the aggregates was considered to increase monotonically as the b2m was added. On the other hand, as for relatively larger diameter of gold colloid, stepwise aggregation process was observed. So that the aggregates of a particular size was formed at a certain threshold of the concentration of available free b2m. The majority of the gold surface of the smaller gold size was easily covered and support the aggregation even at the lower concentration of b2m.

006— Pretreatment And Fiber Content Analysis Of Cannabis Sativa, Dina Bu, Jessica Roggie, Sarah Schmidlin, Barnabas Gikonyo

GREAT Day Posters

Cannabis sativa commonly known as hemp is one of the fastest-growing plants whose refined products have immense commercial value. Various products include refined hemp such as: biofuels, biodegradable plastics, textiles, dietary supplements, paper, clothing, and much more. Hemp fibers are also used in construction and manufacturing applications by strengthening their composite products. Hemp is a high yielding, sustainable, and environmentally friendly crop due to its various qualities, and has the potential to yield valuable raw materials for a great number of applications. Our research evaluates the pretreatment of hemp as well as the comparative analysis of the fiber content thereof. …

219— Using Dendrochronology For Place-Based K-12 Paleoclimate Lessons, Grace Raffa

GREAT Day Posters

Dendrochronology focuses on using trees as archives of past climatic changes for a given region. This project focuses on creating a paleoclimate-centered accessible learning experience for K-12 teachers that integrates local climate proxies in the classroom creating place-based experiences connecting students to the effects of climate change. Four tree species: Beech, Sugar Maple, Black Locust, and Hop Hornbeam, were collected from a local glacially-formed hill (from the Last Glacial Maximum) in Geneseo, NY. These trees died and were removed in August 2020, dried for 6+ months, and sanded (40-800 grit) until rings were visible. Annual growth rings were counted from …

024— Optimizing 3d Model Construction Of Rock And Fossil Specimens To Increase Accessibility In An Online Learning Environment, Jaclyn Barreca, Frazer Bourgeois

GREAT Day Posters

Three-dimensional modeling of physical objects has become increasingly applicable in the field of geology. A digital collection of samples is important to have in the event of physical loss, as a means to communicate among scientists in reference to a particular sample, to aid in the preservation of original samples, and is particularly relevant in today’s pandemic. Digital models allow for the option of remote learning for students and stops the need for the sharing of physical samples. It also increases accessibility of samples. The problem of generating a 3D model of an object has already been solved; this research …

287— The X-Ray Afterglows Of Short Gamma-Ray Bursts, Sarah Popp

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Light curves of the X-ray afterglow from 81 short gamma-ray bursts, from 2005 to 2018, were obtained from the Swift/XRT catalog. The light curves were fit with single power-law and double-power law models using the emcee library in Python and sorted into three groups: bursts well fit by a single power-law, bursts well fit by a double power-law, and bursts not well fit by either. Filters were applied to each category to identify bursts with a steep decay or a plateau. Once these unusual bursts were identified, their properties (duration, flux, fluence, and hardness) were compared to those of the …

357— Dacryoconarids Of The Genundewa And West River Formations, Upper Devonian In Western New York, Emily De Jong

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The Dacryoconarids, small, thin-walled, and cone-shaped, are an extinct taxon in Class Tentaculitoidea, which is of uncertain affinities. Dacryoconarids were widespread throughout the middle Silurian to the Late Devonian when they went extinct. This study focuses on the lower Upper Devonian Dacryoconarids of the Genundewa and West River formations from western New York State. Samples collected from these formations revealed many smooth shelled Styliolinids, however, no difinitive ribbed Dacryoconarids. Calcite was found to have internally filled in the shell of some Styliolinids, showing how thin the external shell is and raising questions about septa orientations. Due to their global occurrence, …